‘I had a dream Haiti beat Brazil’: Haitians celebrate Flag Day, World Cup return
There were dancing soccer balls, musicians in Haiti national soccer team jerseys and flags — lots and lots of Haitian flags.
As Haitians once more poured into North Miami on Saturday for the annual Haitian Compas Festival, they used the occasion to not just celebrate the culture and cuisine, but also the country’s return to the FIFA World Cup next month for the first time in 52 years.
“I had a dream that Haiti beat Brazil,” said Roberto Martino, lead singer of T-Vice, while waving Haiti’s bicolor flag during the band’s performance.
The comment, which drew a loud roar from the crowd, referenced what is expected to be Haiti’s biggest World Cup matchup: a June 19 game against Brazil at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Brazil’s national team enjoys a large following among Haitians.
While Haiti’s anticipated appearance on soccer’s biggest stage has become a source of national pride and unity, this weekend’s celebration ahead of May 18, Haitian Flag Day, also carried mixed emotions.
Alongside the red caps and blue-and-red T-shirts in the crowd emblazoned with “1974” and “2026,” commemorating Les Grenadiers’ two World Cup appearances, were also shirts expressing frustration over the deadly violence engulfing their country, which remains cut off from the world.
T-shirts read “Nou Bouke” (“We’re Fed Up”) and “Kite Peyi-m Mache” (“Let My Country Function”), reflecting the sentiments of Haitians who, while celebrating Haitian pride and the founding of their flag, are doing so under great difficulties and immigration threats.
Prayers and TPS
“Haitians, our pride is in who we are; our pride is our flag,” said North Miami Councilman Pierre Frantz Charles, who is from Arcahaie, the Haiti city where the flag was created on May 18, 1803, during a gathering in which Blacks and mixed-raced rebels united against French colonizers to fight their last battles before the country gained independence on Jan. 1, 1804.
Charles, who represents the district where the festival was held, urged the crowd “to continue to pray and raise your voices on behalf of our brothers and sisters who are in difficulty” — those with Temporary Protected Status, TPS, and those who came to the United States under a humanitarian parole program established by the Biden administration. Both groups face possible deportation after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to allow it to end protections for Haitians.
“Because at one point we were in a similar situation,” Charles said. “There was a moment when we didn’t have papers; a lot of you, your parents didn’t have legal status. Let’s work so they can remain because they contribute to the community.”
“And let’s pray for the people of Haiti,” he added in Creole, “because Haiti is in a nightmare. What is happening in Haiti is not the Haiti I knew. A nation cannot remain on its knees; a people cannot remain on its knees. Let’s pray for Haiti because this has to change.”
Battle isn’t over
Charles’s message was echoed by Miami-Dade County Commissioner Marleine Bastien and Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava. Before the two officials showed off their dance moves onstage to Haitian roots rhythm, Levine Cava told the crowd that not only was Compas Fest “the best party in town,” but “we stand with you. We stand with Haiti.”
“We know we are living through a difficult situation,” Bastien said, noting that TPS protections — which the organization she founded, Family Action Network Movement, and others fought hard to secure — are now “on life support.”
Many did not believe, she said, that the Haitian community would succeed last month in securing a House vote to extend TPS protections for Haiti for three years. Although the bill passed with support from South Florida Republicans and other lawmakers who crossed party lines to join Democrats, it still requires Senate approval.
“The battle isn’t over. We need another vote in the Senate,” Bastien said, appealing to U.S. citizens in the crowd to contact their congressional representatives. “You know Haiti cannot receive more than 250,000 people with TPS, or thousands upon thousands of people from the Biden program.”
READ MORE: North Miami celebrates Haitian culture at the Compas Festival. Take a look
“Can I count on you?” she asked before ending on a note of encouragement. “Don’t be discouraged. Stay strong. Yes, we are going through a difficult moment. Our country needs leaders … who represent us.”
Haitians to shock at FIFA World Cup
In the meantime, she said, the festival was a moment to celebrate Haitian culture and cuisine — and to dream of surprising the world on soccer’s biggest stage.
“My dream is to shock everyone at the World Cup,” Bastien said. “I know we are going to represent.”
Haiti’s World Cup qualification served as a backdrop throughout the festival. Bands including Vayb and T-Vice incorporated soccer balls and flags into their performances, while members of Disip wore national team jerseys.
“What country will win at the World Cup?” Mickael Guirand, who introduced his set with girls dancing with soccer balls, asked from the stage as the crowd yelled in enthusiasm, “Haiti.”
“What country will crush at the World Cup?” he then asked.
“Ayiti,” the crowd chanted back.
READ MORE: Latest World Cup roster news, Neymar’s possible return, Haiti squad announced
The festival, which marked its 28th year, was again held at NoMi Village in North Miami for its second year. Vice Mayor Kassandra Timothe told the crowd the city had invested more than $2 million to bring the production to North Miami, which has a majority Haitian-American-led City Council.
Haitian Flag Day, a moment of reflection, frustration
With parties continuing on Sunday and Monday, Haitians will undoubtedly display their pride. Yet the moment also carries reflection, frustration and anger — sentiments shared not only by attendees but by the musicians themselves.
“I am annoyed that I feel like every year I am saying the same thing,” Richard Cave, lead singer of KAI, said after his high-energy performance. “We still have a big problem that our elite of Haiti still do not want this country to be open to the world.”
The country’s spiraling gang violence, which led to roughly 6,000 deaths last year and continues to drive hunger and displacements, has forced the United States, France and others to issue aviation bans, leading to the suspension of international commercial flights into Port-au-Prince’s Toussaint Louverture International Airport.
“This is the way for people to come and invest in the country,” Cave said. “A country that doesn’t have an airport is excluded from the world. The only thing you’re doing is feeding people, and it’s pissing me off to see that our limits are just to feed people and not evolve and make this country like our neighbors.”
“When are we going to stop?” he asked.
This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 1:49 PM.
